Daily Archives: December 7, 2018

CBI confronts Michel with documents

Agency is trying to establish money trail of alleged bribes in copter deal case The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday confronted Christian James Michel, an alleged middleman in the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter deal case, with a series of documents obtained from Italy and those gathered as part of …

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Promise of voter slips with route map falls flat

On the other hand, many voters complain about not receiving even the simple voter slips The Election Commission’s promise of distribution of photo voter slips with a route map to the polling station has fallen flat in the city, with many electors not even receiving the slips, let alone the …

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Why strip Verma of powers suddenly: SC

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday asked the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), represented by Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, to explain the exigency that had prompted it to take an “overnight” decision to divest Alok Verma of his powers as CBI Director. “The situation which prompted the CVC to take …

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Patents granted by India up by 50% in ’17

Rose from 8,248 in 2016 to 12,387 last year The number of patents granted by India shot up by 50% in 2017, keeping up a trend of steep increases, according to the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO). The patents granted by India increased from 8,248 in 2016 to 12,387 …

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Giant tortoise may offer clues to a long life

They possess genetic variants linked to DNA repair, immune response and cancer suppression Galapagos giant tortoises possess genetic variants linked to DNA repair, immune response and cancer suppression — providing clues into their longevity, according to a study published on Monday. A team of researchers sequenced the genomes of two …

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Houthis head to Sweden for talks

Delegation accompanied by UN envoy A rebel delegation flew out of the Yemeni capital on Tuesday heading for high-stakes talks in Sweden with the government aimed at ending the country’s devastating war. The departure of the Houthi insurgents on a Kuwaiti plane followed a prisoner swap deal and the evacuation …

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Shipbuilding in India.

On account of shortage of tonnage due to the scarcity of ships during war new shipbuilding enterprise has been carried out in many parts of India. Three has been great shipbuilding activity in Chittagong and different parts of Burma. As a result at present there are lying in the port …

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Geometrical deadlock in Paris

American and North Viet 4 Namese delegates to the Paris Peace talks to-day [December 6] appeared to be deadlocked on what, at first sight, seems to be a ridiculous problem: the shape of the negotiating table in the enlarged talks. The Americans want the table to be rectangular, reflecting the …

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Voices of dissent

With senior leaders quitting the Akali Dal and the AAP in disarray, the Congress is the biggest political beneficiary in Punjab While both Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, senior leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), cited deteriorating health as the reason for their resignation from the party, …

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Shielding witnesses

A robust witness protection scheme will strengthen the criminal justice system The witness protection programme is at last in place. Pending legislation by Parliament, the Supreme Court has asked States to implement a scheme framed by the Centre to protect witnesses in criminal trials from threat, intimidation and undue influence. …

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Still on the last chance saloon

The Katowice climate meet must ensure that today’s children don’t inherit a planet heading to a catastrophe The world is in deep trouble. Average global temperatures have crossed a degree Celsius above preindustrial levels and such concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (410 ppm) has never been seen by …

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A relationship under stress

Post-Khashoggi, how long can Saudi Arabia retain leverage over the U.S.? The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has reportedly concluded that Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince, personally ordered the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. The murder of the Saudi dissident journalist at the Kingdom’s Istanbul consulate on October 2 …

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Is social media polarising society?

Today we find ourselves to be more rigid versions of our former selves Think about it: 1.49 billion people on average log onto Facebook daily; every second, on average, around 6,000 tweets are tweeted on Twitter; and since its inception, over 40 billion photographs have been posted on Instagram. We …

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Still on the last chance saloon

The Katowice climate meet must ensure that today’s children don’t inherit a planet heading to a catastrophe The world is in deep trouble. Average global temperatures have crossed a degree Celsius above preindustrial levels and such concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (410 ppm) has never been seen by …

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Virus used to speed up computers

Scientists have successfully used a virus to engineer a better type of memory in computers. The research, published in the journal Applied Nano Materials , found that a key way to develop faster computers is to reduce the millisecond time delays using the virus M13 bacteriophage. These delays usually come …

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